Saturday, 25 January 2014

An old wag I know, was apoplectic that the opportunity this year's World Economic Forum, at the Swiss resort town of Davos, presented Ghana, to finally take on the foreign gold mining interests that have (to quote him) "ripped Ghana off for centuries", on a global platform, was wasted - because the geniuses around President Mahama, who advise him on such matters, failed him miserably.

Well, safe to say that actually, the multinational corporations mining gold here are a relatively recent phenomenon, there are some who will say that he is right, of course. For such Ghanaians - who trace the quest for gold from our shores in exchange for worthless bric-a-brac by foreign commercial interests to the 15th century - to go to Davos at this time of year, and figuratively throw up one's arms in despair, and complain to the world that a sovereign nation once ruled by President Nkrumah, is being dictated to by foreign mining interests, really is bad form.

Although a tad uncharitable, perhaps they are also spot on in arguing that it shows the calibre of some of the people around the President, who advise him on such matters: closed-minded provincials who haven't the faintest idea how to use such occasions to raise Ghana's image and make powerful friends for her.

In their view, instead of lamenting to the world, President Mahama should have used the platform offered by Davos, to condemn those greedy gold mining entities, which have a take-everything-in-sight-and-give-nothing-back-in-return relationship with our country, in no uncertain terms - for their unparalled greed and ruthless disregard for the well-being of Ghanaian democracy and the welfare of ordinary people in our country.

How do they expect Ghana to remain a stable democracy if development does not take place - because sharks like them will not pay their fair share of taxes? Are we not talking about actual-earned-profits, from actual-revenue-flows from a given period of unprecedented spikes in gold prices, that took their earnings to stratospheric heights, I ask? So why the mealy-mouthed excuses?

Did it not occur to the President's advisors that Davos offered Ghana the perfect opportunity to tell the world about the disgraceful pollution of the Ghanaian countryside by those tight-fisted gold mining companies - to an extent that would have landed the executives of those mining companies in jail in the EU and elsewhere in the developed world, to a man, had the scale of the poisoning of vast swathes of the Ghanaian countryside occured there?

The President could then have gone on to tell their shareholders, after informing the world of the apocalyptic destruction of ecosystems across our country wreaked by runoff from mountains and ponds of toxic tailings, for example, that there and then, he was directing his minister of finance to ensure that Ghana's fair share of the vast profits those gold mining companies made when the price of gold reached historic heights, was extracted from them.

The pure-nonsense-on-bamboo-stilts notion that because the price of gold has now fallen, they are unable to pay the windfall tax, is one that ought to be rejected - because they would never dare make such a preposterous claim to the tax authorities in the US, the EU, Australia and Canada. Who do they expect to clean up the mess they will leave behind - as sure as day follows night - after extracting all the gold they can?

From that viewpoint, could it not be argued that Ghana is better off leaving the gold in the ground - and that they are therefore welcome to depart our shores if they so wish: after meeting all their statutory obligations (including fair redundancy packages, properly funded employee pension schemes and fully paid-up reclamation bonds)?

A documentary film to show the crimes against humanity that their poisoning of soils and rivers in Ghana represents, could have been shown at Davos - something that would have pricked the conscience of the institutional investors with shareholdings in those selfish gold mining companies: who would have been horrified by that harrowing evidence of the true cost of their dividends, and of the magnitude of the perfidy of those gold mining companies operating here as if they were above our laws, and arrogantly refusing to share their windfall profits with their hapless victim, Mother Ghana.

Far from scaring off investors, President Mahama would have been given a standing ovation - by the selfsame people who, as we are all aware, now roundly and routinely condemn the greed and callousness of bankers in the US and the EU. What a wasted opportunity for, amongst many other positive examples, telling the world about the many opportunities in Ghana for renewable (especially solar) energy and IT companies to invest in our national economy. Pity.

Friday, 24 January 2014

It is intolerable to hear that soon hospitals, schools, factories and homes across the cities of Accra and Tema, might be without treated water, as a result of the cessation of production, occasioned by an unresolved dispute, between the Ghana Water Company's (GWCL) production unit's management and workers. Apparently, the workers have threatened to down tools, if management does not accede to their demands.

The question is: why should a dispute over the discontinuation of overtime payments and a reduction in workers' perks (the distribution of bags of rice and cooking oil), inconvenience millions of law-abiding residents of those two major cities? The provision of treated water has public health implications when it is disrupted for an extended period, does it not, I ask? Why pile on yet more misery - at a time when hapless Ghanaians are being asked to pay increased tariffs for treated water?

Enough is enough. Workers of state-owned utility companies providing what are essential services to the general public, must not be allowed to continue holding Ghanaians to ransom, with such impunity. It is time legislation banning strikes by public-sector employees, whose pay takes up as much as 70 percent of total national revenue, was enacted by Parliament.

The GWCL's production unit's management must resolve this particular dispute quickly and avert a halt in the production of treated water for distribution to the residents of Accra and Tema. If they fail to do so, they will be failing Mother Ghana - and for their information, there will be painful consequences for all of them.

The minister for works, housing and water resources would be wise to keep an eye on this potential human tragedy and PR disaster for the government of which he is such a prominent member, and make sure that it is resolved swiftly. A word to the wise...

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Stress in the frenetic-paced world we live in today is unavoidable for most working people. It is also a fact that many young people in our country are dying early deaths from stress-related conditions - such as stroke, heart attack and high blood pressure. There is a need for awareness-creation campaigns to get Ghanaians to understand the importance of striking a good work/quality-of-life balance in their lives.

That campaign to get Ghanaians to adopt balanced and healthy lifestyles could be taken up by the media in Ghana - as a collective effort to help prevent preventable deaths: such as the tragic demise of Komla Dumor in faraway London. It is clear from the messages that he is said to have sent to some of his former colleagues at Joy FM, that Komla Dumor was under tremendous stress and overworking himself.

In our determination to be successful individuals, we must not sacrifice our health on the high-alter-of-achievement, regardless of the cost to our personal well-being. The wise old Akan saying, "Onipa ebeyebi, na wanbeye ninyinaa", is something that must guide each one of us. Alas, the world will not stop when we die - and since we are not indispensable beings in the overall scheme of things, we will be quickly replaced, were we to die in harness.

We must all learn to ask for help when we are unable to cope with the stress we come under, when executing tasks assigned to us at work. It is neither a sign of weakness, nor failure, to seek help in managing work-related stress. Perhaps Komla Dumor would still be alive today, if he had been advised to put his health and personal well-being ahead of carrying out assignments for the BBC World Service, even when he was at the point of complete exhaustion physically.

Above all, we must reach out to others, when we sense that they might be under severe stress, and need help in coping. Having seen what it can lead to, in the case of Komla Dumor, we could actually be saving someone from certain death, by so doing.

Sunday, 19 January 2014

It is a measure of the high esteem in which he was held in his native
Ghana, that so many ordinary people were stunned to hear Komla Dumor had
died suddenly, in his London home - and were saddened by the unwelcome news. Many Ghanaians felt a sense of pride that he
anchored the BBC World Service's flagship African programmes.

Komla Dumor's unalloyed patriotism, contrasted sharply with the mean-spirited
partisanship of the many Lilliputians, who tried to fill his gigantic shoes,
after he left Joy FM for the BBC - as was his quiet self-confidence a world
away from their tiresome and loquacious self-importance (not to mention their
irritating pretentiousness).

One of the few Ghanaian journalists of his generation that I
respected, I admired him for his professionalism, and wrote a number of
articles to congratulate him, for some of the award-winning work he did whiles
at Joy FM. Indeed, I often thought of him as ministerial material - and hoped
that one day he would be a member of a Ghanaian government made up of honest
technocrats who would put the national interest ahead of party advantage and
personal ambition.

Having reached the pinnacle of his career by joining the BBC World Service, little
did one know that he would streak across the firmament brightly and briefly
like a shooting star, and disappear for good, so early in his life. At this
tragic moment, our thoughts are with his wife and children in London - and his
extended family clan in Ghana. Komla Dumor, who opened doors for many in
African journalism, will be sorely missed throughout the continent.
Komla, dua eni amanehunu - and may your soul rest in peace.

Sunday, 12 January 2014

I was flabbergasted when I heard Ghana's minister for communications, the Hon. Dr. Omane Boamah, who was once a deputy minister at the ministry of environment, science and technology, talking about an integrated aluminum industry in Ghana, utilising the bauxite deposits in the Atewa Range, on Peace FM's Kokrokoo morning show - at a time when global climate change is impacting the Ghanaian countryside so negatively.

It made one wonder the kind of advice senior civil servants who advise our elected leaders, give to government ministers. No one who has any knowledge of the importance of the Atewa Range's role as watershed for the three major river systems that most of southern urban Ghana depends on for its drinking water supply - the Densu, Birim and Ayensu rivers - will fail to foresee the catastrophe that will befall our nation, were bauxite mining to take place in the Atewa Range. Yet, we have a senior government minister saying such things, at a time of global warming - and at a time when urbanisation is taking place, at such pace, that soon a majority of Ghanaians will live in the urban areas of our country. Incredulous - and extremely worrying, indeed.

Ghanaian politicians - from across the spectrum - must understand clearly, once and for all, when invoking his name to justify their lack of original thinking in such matters, that Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah would never have mooted the idea of using the bauxite deposits in the Atewa Range, to establish an integrated aluminum industry in Ghana, had the world been faced with climate change, at the time he ruled Ghana. The welfare of the masses of the Ghanaian people, and the well-being of society, underpinned his vision for Ghana - not GDP growth at any cost.

Instead of such shortsighted folly, faced with the harsh realities of global climate change, President Nkrumah would have abandoned his plan to set up an integrated aluminum industry in Ghana, and rather suggested to Guinea that it could partner Ghana, to set up a West African integrated aluminum industry - in which the aluminum plant in Ghana would be fed with Guinea's abundant bauxite: in a win-win
value-adding-partnership for both nations. Let today's politicians seek such a partnership with Guinea for an integrated aluminum industry that benefits both nations and the rest of the sub-region too.

To protect it, the whole of the Atewa Range must be turned into a national park. The economic future of the areas with human settlement in the Atewa Range lies in eco-tourism, not bauxite mining that will lead to the destruction of the watershed of the major river systems that supply most of urban southern Ghana with its drinking water - a disaster that will lead to a hell-on-earth existence for millions, including residents of Accra, Ghana's capital.

The time has now come for Ghana's shortsighted politicians to finally drop the absurd idea of mining bauxite in the Atewa Range. At a time of global climate change it is a reckless, irresponsible and very dangerous idea. Our politicians must do some original thinking for once, in this instance. They cannot toy with the lives of Ghanaians. This is a vital human-survival and quality-of-life matter that will impact the welfare of present and future generations of our people negatively, were the wrong decision to be taken. At a time of global climate change, Ghana's politicians must abandon the disastrous plan to mine bauxite in the Atewa Range, for good - as its terrible consequences will be irreversible. A word to the wise..

Thursday, 9 January 2014

One is often baffled by the fact that our nation's ruling elites seldom see striking bilateral relationships with all the nations in sub-Saharan Africa, as an effective means of boosting Ghanaian exports across the continent - and giving younger generation Ghanaians the opportunity to interact with citizens of sister African nations: each one of which Ghana must have free-trade and visa-free agreements with.

Naturally, to ensure that such visa-free travel does not become a means for Ghanaian criminals to extend their footprint-of-crime to sister nations that our nation has such agreements with, and vice-verse, all nationals entering both nations must immediately report to the immigration and national police authorities, to have their fingerprints and DNA samples taken. They must also be required to provide a verifiable address they will stay at throughout their trip, with the proviso that they must inform the authorities each time they change accommodation.

The incredible energy one feels when out and about in urban Ghana, needs to be harnessed. If we had a visa-free agreement and tariff-free trade relations with Rwanda, for example, could young Ghanaian entrepreneurs not end up making the traditional northern smock for men a top fashion item in that nation?

If such agreements existed between us and other sister African nations, could some enterprising young seamstress not set up a fashion house with an Angolan partner - and employ Ghanaians to sew kaba-and-slit apparel for Angola's fairest damsels, I ask? Ditto the brilliant young jewelry designers who work with gold in chic parts of urban Ghana? And could companies like GCB and SIC not become African giants by opening subsidiaries across the continent?

As a result of tariff-free bilateral trade agreements with each of the member states of the African Union (AU), Ghana's wonderful world-beating dark chocolate produced by the Cocoa Processing Company, could indeed become a favourite across Africa. Kasapreko's assorted drinks, Special Ice mineral water, the products of GIHOC Distilleries, to mention a few of Ghanaian industry's finest, are all world-class products that could become household names in nations across Africa - if we had a bilateral tariff-free trade agreement in place with each AU member-state. Ghana must breathe new life into such existing agreements with that in mind - and sign new ones where none exist today.

Ghana must not wait for a continental common market to come into being before making pan-African trade a pillar of its economic transformation. Whiles we await an African common market, let us use bilateral tariff-free trade agreements to gain entry into the markets of all the members of the AU: regional free-trade areas notwithstanding. Our nation has tremendous goodwill across Africa, as a result of the impact of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's activism for the pan-African cause, during his years in power in Ghana. Let us leverage that goodwill to boost our export trade and create a jobs galore in our country into the bargain. A word to the wise...

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

No African who is a pan-Africanist, will fail to be worried and saddened, by the unfortunate violence breaking out in places like South Sudan and the Central African Republic. What today's Africa needs is peace and stability in order to develop and prosper - not senseless tribal and religious conflict.

Harrowing photographs of displaced fellow Africans, seeking refuge in United Nations compounds in South Sudan, and traumatised Nigerians huddled together in small groups at the arrivals hall of Nnamdi Azikwei international airport in Abuja, after being evacuated from the Central African Republic, are an indictment of the ruling elites of both nations.

Their selfish disregard for the welfare of their people, and the well-being of the societies they dominate in such brutal fashion, is shocking and reprehensible. This is the 21st century information age - not the Dark Ages. No tribe in the continent is superior or inferior to another. And genetically we are the same people more or less.

The African Union (AU) must do all it can to ensure that mediation efforts now underway to end the violence in both nations meet with success. It is unacceptable that ordinary people anywhere on the continent have to experience such abominable and unspeakable acts of violence, because of the failings of their leaders. What Africa needs is peace and stability - to enable it develop and prosper. We must rid the continent of selfish, narrow-minded and violence-prone leaders for that reason.